Featured Research

from universities, journals, and other organizations

Wire inspection: As fast as a world-class sprinter

Date:

April 15, 2014

Source:

Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Summary:

Pipes, rails, and wires are manufactured at high speeds. A new optical inspection system reviews the workpieces at 10 meters a second and finds defects in real time that can be as narrow as a single hair.

Share This

With the WIRE-AOI wire inspection system, four cameras collectively deliver 40,000 analyzed images per second. Thus, a 100% control of the wire surface in real time can also work with very rapid production processes.

Pipes, rails, and wires are manufactured at high speeds. A new optical inspection system reviews the workpieces at 10 meters a second and finds defects in real time that can be as narrow as a single hair.

Related Articles

The wire blank shoots from the drawing die which molds it into the desired shape. Up to ten meters per second, the workpiece is fast -- and thus can keep pace with world-class runners like Usain Bolt. At these speeds, an in-line inspection -- inspecting the workpiece during the production process -- would have been inconceivable, until now. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM in Freiburg have now closed this technological gap. Their optical inspection system, WIRE-AOI, can detect defects in strip products in real time. Strip products are long workpieces -- like pipes, rails, wires, or boards -- that are manufactured at high flow velocities.

The inspection system detects micro-defects that zoom past it at ten meters per second, and are no thicker than a human hair. Workers then see the processed defects depicted graphically on a monitor, and can remove the corresponding pieces. The system marks the location of the defect, and stores the associated camera image in a database. This way, the makers of strip products can identify, classify, and document defects during production. For instance, by determining surface defects at the threshold levels for depth, width, and length adapted for their own production. If the workpiece exceeds these parameters, then the software sounds the alarm optically and acoustically.

10,000 images per second

Four high-speed cameras deliver the images of the defects. Each one is capable of shooting 10,000 images per second, and processing them in real time. "Only a handful of models for industrial camera inspection are able to record this number of images in the first place, much less analyze them in real time," says Dr. Daniel Carl, group manager for Inline Measurement Techniques at IPM. Prerequisite for this peak performance are cellular neuronal networks. "That means each pixel is itself a computer in its own right. In order to program these, you need specialized knowledge about parallel architectures that the team at IPM has at its disposal." The corresponding software must first enable the system to analyze the images shot by the camera.

An LED light developed by Carl's research team puts sharpness into the camera images. Its light shines at a 5 millionth of a second, as bright as 100 suns, and flashes 10,000 times per second. "That is just like normal photographs. The brighter the light and shorter the illumination period, the sharper the images of moving objects. The image does not blur since, in such short periods of time, in principle nothing moves -- even at speeds of up to 10 meters per second," Carl added. The human eye can hardly perceive these very short light times. Therefore, the system is safe for the retina despite the extreme brightness.

Another important element: sturdy housing. Because things can get rough when producing strip products. For example, in the production of wire: The blanks are either rolled or drawn through dies. This can get messy, or the system vibrates. The inspection system, with its sensitive electronic and optical components, is in the middle of the production line. "The workpieces literally go directly through it," describes Carl.

Minor defect, major impact

The drive to develop the sturdy, very fast and precise inspection system came from colleagues at the neighboring Fraunhofer Institute for Mechanics of Materials IWM. "Their job is materials inspection, including that of wires. We noticed that these could have many and very diverse defects if they were produced industrially, but that an inline inspection system would have missed until now," says Carl, in whose group the first prototype was developed. Even the smallest surface defect -- not larger than a few micrometers -- could have undesired consequences: Either right in production, when the defective wires are processed further -- and bring the machinery to a stop. Or as part of the end product, if they disrupt its function. One example is defective wire springs were installed in motorized valves, which could lead to damage to the motor.

The inspection process has matured to the point that the scientists are now offering it to wirepullers. The technology has already been successfully in use for some time now; several additional projects are planned. Anyone who would like to make an image themselves: The IPM researchers are exhibiting their superfast wire inspection at the wire trade show from April 7 to 11, 2014 in Dόsseldorf (Hall EN/08), at Control from May 6 to 9, 2014 in Stuttgart (Hall 1, Booth 1502), and at the Wire Industry Convention May 8, 2014 in Iserlohn.

More From ScienceDaily

More Computers & Math News

Featured Research

Mar. 3, 2015  By examining the forces that the segments of mosquito legs generate against a water surface, researchers have unraveled the mechanical logic that allows the mosquitoes to walk on water, which may ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015  Major cities in the UK are falling behind their international counterparts in terms of their use of smart technologies, according to a new study. The research has found that smart cities in the UK, ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015  To simulate chimp behavior, scientists created a computer model based on equations normally used to describe the movement of atoms and molecules in a confined space. An interdisciplinary research ... full story

Mar. 3, 2015  Magnetic vortex structures, so-called skyrmions, could in future store and process information very efficiently. They could also be the basis for high-frequency components. For the first time, a team ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015  A method for analyzing and predicting nature's dynamic and interconnected systems has improved forecasts of populations of Fraser River Sockeye Salmon, a highly prized fishery in British Columbia, ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015  The odds of picking a perfect bracket for the NCAA men's basketball March Madness championship tournament are a staggering less than one in 9.2 quintillion (that's 9,223,372,036,854,775,808), ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015  Scientists report that they could observe experimentally the current flow along channels at the crystal surfaces of topological insulators. The channels are less than one nanometer wide and extend ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015  Organic light emitting diodes (OLEDs), which are made from carbon-containing materials, have the potential to revolutionize future display technologies, making low-power displays so thin they'll wrap ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015  What if one day, your computer, TV or smart phone could process data with light waves instead of an electrical current, making those devices faster, cheaper and more sustainable through less heat and ... full story

Mar. 2, 2015  3-D printing could become a powerful tool in customizing interventional radiology treatments to individual patient needs, with clinicians having the ability to construct devices to a specific size ... full story

Featured Videos

Forensic Holodeck Creates 3D Crime Scenes

Reuters - Innovations Video Online (Mar. 3, 2015)  A holodeck is no longer the preserve of TV sci-fi classic Star Trek, thanks to researchers from the Institute of Forensic Medicine Zurich, who have created what they say is the first system in the world to visualise the 3D data of forensic scans. Jim Drury saw it in operation.
Video provided by Reuters

Related Stories

Nov. 21, 2014  A new robot for inspecting ballast water tanks on board ships is being developed. The robot is able to move independently along rails built into the tanks. At the moment, people still carry out such ... full story

Aug. 11, 2014  The quality control of component surfaces is a complex undertaking. Researchers have engineered a high-precision modular inspection system that can be adapted on a customer-specific basis and ... full story

July 19, 2010  Physicists in the United States and Germany have discovered a way to use a gallium arsenide nanodevice as a signal processor at "terahertz" speeds, the first time it's been used for ... full story

ScienceDaily features breaking news and videos about the latest discoveries in health, technology, the environment, and more -- from major news services and leading universities, scientific journals, and research organizations.